1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a method for cooking meat products in a bag, said bag having an inner cling film surrounding the meat and an outer film, said outer film having a softening point above the cooking temperature of the meat. The meat is cooked in the bag with minimum formation of purge.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been many descriptions of packaging and cooking meat in bag-like containers.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,218 to Rich et al. describes a method wherein whole or pieces of meat are mixed, ground and placed in a mold which is evacuated and sealed. The product is then cooked in the mold under pressure to form a molded meat product. After cooking, however, the cooking package must be removed, moisture drained and the product repackaged for distribution.
Other means of packaging meat are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,682 to Weinke which pertain to producing a fresh looking, raw meat product. The meats are packaged wherein the inner member is an oxygen impermeable member which is first placed around the meat and then sealed with an outer container of oxygen impermeable material enclosing the first container. This invention does not involve cooking the meat and the outer container is removed before sale.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,092 to Titchenal et al. pertains to packaging red meat with oxygen-permeable inner films and an oxygen impermeable outer container. The package is heat shrunk around the meat to prevent purging. However, this is not a cook-in bag product.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,927 to Howell et al. relates to a meat package including an inner layer of wax impregnated paper towel stock and an outer heat shrinkable bag. The bag is heated to provide a skin-tight cover over the wrapped meat. Again, this is not a cook-in bag product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,960 to Lind et al. relates to a bag for packaging meat having two rectangular outer panels heat sealed to an inner panel useable as a bone guard layer. Both the outer and inner panels can be comprised of ionomer films. The bag is heat sealed around the bone meat, but this patent does not disclose the use of the package as a cook-in bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,249 to Ohya et al. pertains to heat shrinkable multi-layered laminated films comprised primarily of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers. Laminated films of ionomer are discussed. This patent, however, does not pertain to cook-in bag products.
Thus, while there have been many patents directed to packaged meat products, it has been desired to produce a packaged meat product wherein the packaged meat product is prepared by cooking the meat product in the bag with minimum formation of purge in the cook bag.